Wavelength‐Selective, Narrowband Graphene Transistor with a Plasmon‐Enhanced Pyroelectric Gate

Abstract

Herein, a wavelength‐selective pyroelectric sensor based on a graphene field‐effect transistor (gFET) with a plasmon‐enhanced pyroelectric gate (PG) is reported. The PG gFET (PG‐gFET) uses a poly(vinylidene fluoride‐co‐trifluoroethylene) or PVDF‐TrFE membrane doped with plasmonic nanoparticles as the gate. Gold nanorods (AuNRs) or silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are incorporated into the PVDF‐TrFE membrane to enhance the photothermal conversion efficiency of PVDF‐TrFE in a specific narrowband wavelength range. The wavelength‐selective photothermal effect can optically modulate the gate potential of the PG‐gFET; this, in turn, leads to a change in current through the graphene film of the transistor. The PG‐gFET with AuNRs exhibits a maximum responsivity of 0.79 μA mW−1 at the wavelength of 660 nm. Replacing AuNRs with AgNPs in the PVDF‐TrFE membrane results in tuning the plasmonic response of the transistor to 488 nm with a maximum responsivity of 0.68 μA mW−1. When plasmonic nanoparticles are absent from the PVDF‐TrFE membrane, the maximum response wavelength of the transistor is shifted to a midinfrared regime at 3125 nm, which is associated with the CC absorption of PVDF‐TrFE. The ability of the PG‐gFET to selectively respond to different light wavelengths will benefit many fields, including pyroelectric sensors, spectroscopy, and imaging.

Keywords

• graphene transistor
• infrared detector
• plasmonics
• pyroelectric effect